We've decided to put all the information about Rewordify.com on the site itself, rather than splitting it between the site and this blog. We're no longer updating this blog.
Please visit Rewordify.com for the latest version of the site.
The latest information can be found in the site's Help Center.
Welcome to the Rewordify.com blog!
Big changes are coming!
We're re-engineering Rewordify.com from the ground up to be an even better, great-looking, super-fast web app with lots of new features.
The interface is being totally redesigned to give it a more modern, stylish look that will be highly intuitive and usable on every device.
You'll be able to create an account, save anything to your account, and allow your content to be searched and found right from the home page! You control the visibility and sharing level of what you save.
We're adding hundreds more pieces of classic literature directly on our site--Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Twain, Proust--all searchable from the home page in our new page viewer that's easy to read and easy to navigate
You'll have even more learning tools available, including a completely new, awesome suite of reading comprehension apps like smart flash cards, smart on-screen cloze activities, quizzes, and more. It'll also be even easier for teachers to print better-looking printable versions of the site's content.
And, it will all be free.
Our goal? To be the best place to read and learn on the web.
Keep an eye on the blog for more updates.
The interface is being totally redesigned to give it a more modern, stylish look that will be highly intuitive and usable on every device.
You'll be able to create an account, save anything to your account, and allow your content to be searched and found right from the home page! You control the visibility and sharing level of what you save.
We're adding hundreds more pieces of classic literature directly on our site--Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Twain, Proust--all searchable from the home page in our new page viewer that's easy to read and easy to navigate
You'll have even more learning tools available, including a completely new, awesome suite of reading comprehension apps like smart flash cards, smart on-screen cloze activities, quizzes, and more. It'll also be even easier for teachers to print better-looking printable versions of the site's content.
And, it will all be free.
Our goal? To be the best place to read and learn on the web.
Keep an eye on the blog for more updates.
Latest interface update!
We just made a bunch of changes and enhancements to Rewordify.com. Here's what we did:
- We made the Text Information and Options page cleaner, with fewer visual elements, easier-to-read text, and clearer buttons. It more intelligently hides text and options that don't apply for a particular text passage, so it's easier to read.
- We shortened the Save & share link, so it's a little easier to copy-paste the link onto blogs, emails, etc.:
The old link looked like this (this example won't actually work):
http://www.rewordify.com/p.php?p=abcd1234ef
The new link looks like this:
http://rewordify.com/abcd1234ef
Both the old and new link formats will continue to work, so if you have any links on your web pages, etc., don't worry: they'll still work. - When you rewordify a lot of text, we added "smart" navigation buttons near the left that fade in and out. The navigation buttons let you instantly jump down to the Text Information/Learning Tools features, and let you instantly jump to the top of the page. The buttons only appear if you need them. (Nerd talk: they fade in and out using CSS3 transitions on modern browsers. Cool stuff without the overhead of jQuery.)
- We renamed the link at the top of the page that takes you to the classics page. Now the link says Classics instead of Read.
- The home page and rewordified text pages are more evenly centered, with brighter blue text.
A faster site, a new Learning Tool, and an export function!
We love making Rewordify.com better and better. Here's what's new:
We redesigned the home page. We reduced the amount of text, and we removed the images and replaced them with information tables. The result is an extremely fast-loading page with less text to read.
The printable Learning Tools are now cleaner. We took "Rewordify.com," etc., off our printable Learning Tools. Tools like the Matching Sheet, List with Definitions, etc., used to have our website name and links at the top of the printout. We took them out so the printed Learning Tools are completely plain, for fewer distractions and more flexibility of use.
We created a new Learning Tool. It's called Print Text with Vocab Column: (Click the image to see a bigger version.)
For any rewordified block of text, it displays the block of text with the hard words underlined in a left-hand column, and the associated definitions near the hard words in a right-hand column.
To make the page less cluttered, it only defines a hard word once, the first time it's used.
To get this, simply rewordify any block of text, and select "Print Text with Vocab Column" from the Learning Tools that display under the text.
It's one more way that Rewordify.com can help your students build their vocabulary and improve their reading comprehension. In a few clicks, they have any text printed in a way that makes it easier to understand.
You can now export to CSV any list of hard words. CSV stands for Comma Separated Values. It's a file format that lets you export and import data from one web site or program to another.
After you rewordify a block of text, you'll see "Export to CSV" in the Learning Tools. When you cick it, you'll get a plain screen that looks like this (of course, when you do it, you'll see the hard words in your text block):
"hard word","definition"
"difficult word","easier phrase"
"word3","definition3"
etc...
You can a few things from here.
Please contact us with any feedback about these new features!
We redesigned the home page. We reduced the amount of text, and we removed the images and replaced them with information tables. The result is an extremely fast-loading page with less text to read.
The printable Learning Tools are now cleaner. We took "Rewordify.com," etc., off our printable Learning Tools. Tools like the Matching Sheet, List with Definitions, etc., used to have our website name and links at the top of the printout. We took them out so the printed Learning Tools are completely plain, for fewer distractions and more flexibility of use.
We created a new Learning Tool. It's called Print Text with Vocab Column: (Click the image to see a bigger version.)
To make the page less cluttered, it only defines a hard word once, the first time it's used.
To get this, simply rewordify any block of text, and select "Print Text with Vocab Column" from the Learning Tools that display under the text.
It's one more way that Rewordify.com can help your students build their vocabulary and improve their reading comprehension. In a few clicks, they have any text printed in a way that makes it easier to understand.
You can now export to CSV any list of hard words. CSV stands for Comma Separated Values. It's a file format that lets you export and import data from one web site or program to another.
After you rewordify a block of text, you'll see "Export to CSV" in the Learning Tools. When you cick it, you'll get a plain screen that looks like this (of course, when you do it, you'll see the hard words in your text block):
"hard word","definition"
"difficult word","easier phrase"
"word3","definition3"
etc...
You can a few things from here.
- You can copy-paste the screen into another program that can import word lists, like some online flash card and studying sites
- You can copy-paste the screen into a spreadsheet program. If you do, you may have to select a feature called "text to columns" so they're separated into two columns
- You can save the page as a .CSV file. To do this, select "Save Page As" (or similar command) in your browser. Then, give the file a name that ends with .CSV. Be sure to select that you're saving it as a File Type of text.
Please contact us with any feedback about these new features!
Change the highlighting style in one click!
We just made Rewordify.com faster and easier to use.
Before today, to change the highlighting style of a text block, you had to click "Settings," then change the style, then click "Save."
Now you can do the same thing in one click!
When you rewordify a text block, you'll now see a new "Highlighting style" area in the right-hand section of the top panel (click to see a bigger version):
Just click a highlighting style and the style will instantly change. We hope you agree that one click is better than three. When you change the highlighting setting this way, it's only a temporary override; the next block of text you rewordify will use the default style that's on the Settings page.
To permanently change the default style, click on "Settings" at the top right and make the change on that page
We hope that this change makes Rewordify.com more flexible, faster, and easier for you to use.
Questions? Comments? Please contact us and we'll respond personally every time.
Before today, to change the highlighting style of a text block, you had to click "Settings," then change the style, then click "Save."
Now you can do the same thing in one click!
When you rewordify a text block, you'll now see a new "Highlighting style" area in the right-hand section of the top panel (click to see a bigger version):
Just click a highlighting style and the style will instantly change. We hope you agree that one click is better than three. When you change the highlighting setting this way, it's only a temporary override; the next block of text you rewordify will use the default style that's on the Settings page.
To permanently change the default style, click on "Settings" at the top right and make the change on that page
We hope that this change makes Rewordify.com more flexible, faster, and easier for you to use.
Questions? Comments? Please contact us and we'll respond personally every time.
What's new!
Much faster load times
The home page and help page now load much faster than before and use much less data upon loading. You'll especially see the speed increase on mobile phones and tablets. School administrators should appreciate the significant drop in network traffic caused by our site.
How did we do it? Previously, we auto-loaded the YouTube video player on the home page and help page. Now, we don't load the player until you click on the video.
This is part of our quest to make Rewordify.com work as quickly as possible, so it works like a native app on your tablet or smartphone.
(Nerdy details: We don't use jQuery or any other javascript library. We don't download custom fonts. We strategically load local CSS and javascript to save download time when optimal. We use all CSS3 with no background images for the site look and feel.)
The result? A snappy site that's great to use.
More power and flexibility to web site and blog owners
We have a great feature where web site owners and bloggers can make it easy for anyone to simplify the language on any web page in one click.
Now, users of that feature can have more control over how the reworded pages appear. You can now decide whether or not the yellow navigation box appears on reworded pages. You can also choose whether links on reworded pages take users to reworded versions of the other pages on your site, or whether those links take them to the original versions of your pages.
Read this page on our site for more information, and learn how we're helping you use technology to improve literacy around the world!
We keep getting better, because of you
Nearly every day, we improve the way that Rewordify.com simplifies text. For example, we just added words like neurochemicals and dyscalculia, phrases like faculty members and universal coverage, and the site now knows the difference between crude (oil) prices, crude (rough and low-quality) devices, crude (rude and sexual) comments, and crude (rough) estimates in a sentence like this: (Copy-paste it into Rewordify.com if you want to be impressed.)
Please keep sending in your suggestions for improvement; we love adding new features and making the site more useful, so more people use the site to read more. Just contact us about anything on your mind; we'll respond personally every time!
The woman used a crude digging device to figure out where to dig the next crude oil well; her friend gave her an estimate that was crude, but she felt confident enough to start digging even though her friend made crude, unwanted remarks.
Please keep sending in your suggestions for improvement; we love adding new features and making the site more useful, so more people use the site to read more. Just contact us about anything on your mind; we'll respond personally every time!
The limits of Rewordify.com
Every once in a while, we get an email from a user that asks things like:
Rewordify.com knows over 40,000 difficult words and phrases, and we add new words and phrases to it almost every day. Also, we frequently make the site "smarter" at figuring out how hard words and phrases are used, so they're replaced with language that sounds natural and is easy to understand.
You also get our exclusive READ level (Rewordify.com Estimated Average Difficulty level), a highly valid measure of text complexity that works the same way as (and is strongly correlated to) the Lexile measure.
Sometimes these things work together beautifully, and sometimes they fall short. This is because working with language is terrifically difficult for computers, and no computer can come close to a human being's ability to figure out how hard a passage is, or how to re-state something more easily.
- Why won't Rewordify.com reword my text to a certain grade level? (or)
- Why doesn't Rewordify.com reword this word or that word?
Rewordify.com knows over 40,000 difficult words and phrases, and we add new words and phrases to it almost every day. Also, we frequently make the site "smarter" at figuring out how hard words and phrases are used, so they're replaced with language that sounds natural and is easy to understand.
You also get our exclusive READ level (Rewordify.com Estimated Average Difficulty level), a highly valid measure of text complexity that works the same way as (and is strongly correlated to) the Lexile measure.
Sometimes these things work together beautifully, and sometimes they fall short. This is because working with language is terrifically difficult for computers, and no computer can come close to a human being's ability to figure out how hard a passage is, or how to re-state something more easily.
The limits of a computer
Computers think that this passage is easy to understand (READ 430, Lexile 480L):
Those who know the breath of forever know the crying of the Earth. They know the wall that is tomorrow. They know the sad waving of the tree branch. They know the pain of the dusty ebony sky.
Computers also think that this passage is many grade levels more difficult (READ 1390, Lexile 1050L):
The shocked policeman saw the alien whisk the surprised boy into the spaceship. The policeman sneaked down the hillside, through a maze of young maple trees, closer to the unlucky spot.
Rewordify.com can't simplify the first passage. It doesn't know why the Earth is crying.
The site can't simplify the second passage. It doesn't contain any difficult words, except maybe whisk, but eggs can be whisked as well as people, and we don't want to say that the boy was beaten.
Technical terms and troublesome words
Here's another example of a challenge for the site:
Washington applauded the conservative approach within Rickerson's organic Renaissance work.
A computer can't know that Washington means important scientists in Washington, D.C. Words like conservative and organic have multiple meanings that can be challenging to figure out. Also, Renaissance is a complex topic that can't be summarized in a few words.
The site can help!
The moral of this story? Although we make Rewordify.com better nearly every day, no computer can replace a teacher. But, Rewordify.com is a great learning tool that can empower independent learning when a teacher isn't around. Feel free to explore the site, learn how it can help, and contact us with any questions or suggestions.
New! Print cloze sheets for rewordified text
You can now print cloze (fill-in-the-blanks) sheets for rewordified text. This is a fun reading comprehension activity and it's also an effective formative assessment for reading comprehension.
Once you rewordify some text, you'll see a new button, "Print Cloze Activity," in the Learning Tools:
When you click it, you'll get a printout with a word bank, and the original text with underlines replacing the original hard words, like this:
The ____________ view was beautiful to the ____________,
who wondered when he would see his _________________ again.
Check the "include key on printouts" for a teacher or a teaching assistant version.
NOTE: When you click the "learn" link on a web page, Rewordify.com extracts all the hard words from the web page into Rewordify.com to help students learn. Of course, the cloze activity doesn't work well in that case. It works best when you enter English sentences.
Try it out now! Copy-paste this text into the home page and see how it works:
The halcyon view was beautiful to the imp, who wondered when he would see his homestead again.
Once you rewordify some text, you'll see a new button, "Print Cloze Activity," in the Learning Tools:
When you click it, you'll get a printout with a word bank, and the original text with underlines replacing the original hard words, like this:
Word Bank:
halcyon, imp, homestead
halcyon, imp, homestead
The ____________ view was beautiful to the ____________,
who wondered when he would see his _________________ again.
Check the "include key on printouts" for a teacher or a teaching assistant version.
NOTE: When you click the "learn" link on a web page, Rewordify.com extracts all the hard words from the web page into Rewordify.com to help students learn. Of course, the cloze activity doesn't work well in that case. It works best when you enter English sentences.
Try it out now! Copy-paste this text into the home page and see how it works:
The halcyon view was beautiful to the imp, who wondered when he would see his homestead again.
Good isn't good enough
We're adding smarter abilities to our Rewordifying Engine. It can now change how a word or phrase is reworded based on the part of speech of the surrounding words.
For example, the word noodled is reworded to played/thought if a preposition comes after it. Take a look at these three sentences:
We're constantly improving the site this way, including adding more words and phrases on an almost-daily basis.
For example, the word noodled is reworded to played/thought if a preposition comes after it. Take a look at these three sentences:
The designer noodled up some color choices for her client.To see how these sentences are reworded, click this icon:
The programmer noodled with different ways to make his site work better.
I am serving noodled potatoes for dinner.
Simplify your own website or blog with one click
By the way, did you like that one-click rewordifying feature? You can add it to your website or blog for free! Read about how one line of code can instantly simplify your website or blog and make it more accessible and readable for millions of people.Learn better, from better rewordings
Rewordify.com now rewords difficult language in a more natural-sounding way.
The site identifies the part of speech of all difficult words based on how they're used in sentences, and rewords them accordingly.
Example 1:
For example, this sentence uses the word brooding as a verb:
That sentence will be reworded to:
Example 2:
This sentence uses the word brooding as an adjective:
That sentence will be reworded to:
This rewordifying improvement happens because we've created an accurate part of speech tagger that tries to do its best to figure out how each word you enter is used in a sentence. Keep in mind that no part of speech tagger is perfect, and there will be instances where the site doesn't get it right. We are constantly reviewing the site to improve it, of course.
If you see a mistake, please let us know, and enjoy using the more-accurate Rewordify.com!
The site identifies the part of speech of all difficult words based on how they're used in sentences, and rewords them accordingly.
Example 1:
For example, this sentence uses the word brooding as a verb:
There's no sense in brooding about poor grades in English class.
That sentence will be reworded to:
There's no sense in sadly thinking about poor grades in English class.
Example 2:
This sentence uses the word brooding as an adjective:
Now there's a way to help a class full of brooding English students.
That sentence will be reworded to:
Now there's a way to help a class full of quiet and sad English students.
This rewordifying improvement happens because we've created an accurate part of speech tagger that tries to do its best to figure out how each word you enter is used in a sentence. Keep in mind that no part of speech tagger is perfect, and there will be instances where the site doesn't get it right. We are constantly reviewing the site to improve it, of course.
If you see a mistake, please let us know, and enjoy using the more-accurate Rewordify.com!
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